


The Chains that Bind

by Chocobofever



Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M, Vampire Hunter!Iruka, vampire!Kakashi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-01
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-10-13 16:50:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10517850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chocobofever/pseuds/Chocobofever
Summary: Two-part mini-series: Iruka is a Vampire Hunter and upon the orders of the Hunters' Association, he goes to pick up his new familiar.





	1. Part One: The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Second part will hopefully be posted tomorrow.

He had a chain around his neck and the thinnest limbs Iruka had seen on a creature that was still living, in a sense. The pale skin was to be expected, messy pale hair covering anything that could be seen of the vampire's face. Iruka had seen his file. According to it, 009720 had one bad eye. Iruka took one look around the depressing prison environment, dark cells and levels of humidity that would make any human sick at prolonged exposure, and wondered if this place might not be the cause of it.  
  
"Been 'ere forever, he has. Curious that the state would take interest now of all times," the man who had offered to take Iruka down to the cells said, waving one chubby arm as if he were showcasing real estate and not a rotten hole with outcasts of society in it. With one look Iruka could ascertain that only one of them was undead. 009720 was the only one situated further in, from a time when the prison had still been full. Now the establishment was rundown and on the brink of being shut down, with only a handful of human inmates, kept in the cells closest to the entrance.  
  
The two of them stilled before the cell. The creature, 009720, did not stir where he lay slumped.  
  
"When did you feed him last?" Iruka asked curiously.  
  
The chubby prison guard scratched his messy stubble. "Um, I'd say it was a few weeks back. In January perhaps? We're not very precise. Just feed him the ones that don't sit up for lunch time 'nymore."  He finished with a wheezy laughter. Iruka didn't smile.  
  
He dug out the studded leather collar he'd kept in his pocket for travel. Iruka's trench was long, hiding everything down to his boots, and the pockets were deep and roomy. "Open the door, please."  
  
"Are ya sure? I gatta lock the door as soon as you're in. You're gonna be there all 'lone with him." Iruka tried to ignore how he sounded overly cheerful at the prospect. He'd been pleasant enough to Iruka, but it would figure that nobody would survive dirty work as this if they did not have at least a few screws loose in their head. Thoughts flashed through Iruka's mind, theories of how a man, possibly with a mental illness, might have ended up working at such a sorry establishment as this, but Iruka quickly pushed any such thoughts away, knowing they'd run off with his mind if he let them. Iruka needed to focus.  
  
The door swung open with a lazy, yowling noise and Iruka braced himself, grip tight on the collar. He waited half a minute, eyes hard on the vampire, but it remained unresponsive.  
  
"I'm going in," Iruka said, taking first careful steps forward. The door clattered closed behind him and the sound was more frightening that Iruka would have expected.  
  
An adult and a trained Vampire Hunter, one would have thought Iruka too old to be afraid of odd noises and the dark, but apparently not. This was truly frightening and Iruka felt rich amounts of adrenaline being pumped into his body, walking on the balls of his feet as he crept closer, other hand tightening on a knife Iruka still kept hidden in his robe.  
  
"Oh, I don't think 'nyone's gotten that close before he—"  
  
Red eyes flashed and in that moment, the vampire lunged.

 

\--- <3 ---

  
  
For the first time in memory, Kakashi felt the absence of cold and humidity even before he opened his eyes. While not harmful to a being who was already dead, they made his limbs ache, almost as if the memory of times long passed still existed in the texture of his muscles. This, in contrast, was quite a stifling heat. Kakashi felt the flicker of light on his face and assumed he was close to a furnace. Moving slightly, the clatter of chains echoed close to his ear.  
  
Of course.  
  
"Good morning. Actually, evening would be more precise, though to you I suppose they're the same thing."  
  
Kakashi let his good eye flicker open. He was met with the sight of a warmly lit room, a home, and a flickering flame in the corner of his eye.  
  
The human stood up from where he'd been sitting by a table. He was in no hurry as he put his pen and papers away, before taking the long way around a couch and table to come stare down at Kakashi. The human had brown hair and a fairly plain face, if not the scar running across his nose. Kakashi recalled his surprisingly quick movements from the night before.  
  
"What do you want?" Kakashi growled lowly. The human watched him curiously, certainly not seeing a vampire for the first time. His eyes scanned Kakashi's open one, moving on to the vampire's nose and down to his lips. Getting suspicious, Kakashi reached up to the lower half of his face to find it bare.  
  
That's right. He'd not worn a mask in a while. Kakashi's jaws clenched at the thought, lips tightening over his teeth.

The human let his legs fold, sitting in a crouch, far enough that Kakashi assumed he knew just how long the chain on Kakashi's was and remained out of reach of it. "I noticed your fangs don't retract even while you're in a resting state." Kakashi's eyebrow twitched, the growl in his chest held back only by his unwillingness to let his lips part.

"Why am I here?" Kakashi asked tightly.

Kakashi could not help but think that if the human had looked at Kakashi's fangs, he would no doubt have studied Obito's eye as well. The mere thought made Kakashi quiver in rage, forcing him to redirect his thoughts before he made himself go feral with his bloodthirsty aspirations.

"You're here to be my partner. I'm Umino Iruka, by the way. Hunter of the fourth grade, Civilian Affairs branch."

"Ha ha," said Kakashi.

"It's not a joke."

"The fact a mere grunt thinks he can keep me as a pet is," said Kakashi, rolling so he was lying on his stomach. His fingers dug into something soft. A dog bed, Kakashi realized looking down. He'd gotten his mastiff one much like it when he'd still been human. Kakashi looked up and about, eyes roaming above the backrest of the couch to take in the kitchenette behind it. "If you let me go now I will spare you, human. In truth, you should not have let me out of there. You cannot even begin to imagine the strength I—" Kakashi fell silent, his head snapping to face the human, both eyes wide as the sweetest of scents entered Kakashi's nostrils. 

 _Blood,_ his mind helpfully supplied.

"My training philosophy is, I believe in rewarding good behavior," the human said, wiggling a blood bag in his hand.

 

\--- <3 ---

 

Iruka's lips pressed in a tight line as he slowly removed the gauze, grimacing at the sight of the inflamed, torn flesh that was revealed. The lighting in the bathroom was bright, allowing him to see with almost too much clarity how deep the vampire's claws had dug into his left bicep. With a small sigh Iruka went about cleaning the injury, thinking of the vampire currently chained to the wall in his living room.

He'd been lucky to not be bitten. For someone so close to starvation, 009720 was a quick bastard. All vampires were, but Iruka could not help but think that this one was especially much so.

Listening with half an ear, Iruka could make out the sounds of greedy slurping in the living room.

"Try not to make a mess, will you," Iruka shouted to him. "Blood stains like a bitch."

He thought of the vampire's eyes, blood-red as he charged, but only one of them fading when the vampire was eventually restrained and forced into a synthetic sleep. Iruka had never heard of the like. As the vampire's bloodthirst faded, so should his feral physical features, yet for 009720 they hadn't.

A 'bad eye' they'd called it at the dungeon prison.

"You'll have to tell me your name," Iruka continued. "Or I'll pick one and it will be embarrassing. I warn you now, I write children's books for a hobby."

"Kakashi."

"What was that?" Iruka turned his head.

"Kakashi," sounded again.

Kakashi. Scarecrow. It sounded like something Iruka might write in his novels. "We have similar taste," Iruka announced in his loud tone of voice.

 

 

TO BE CONTINUED


	2. Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vampires are divided into levels from A to E. A-levels would be nobles, E-ranks are vampires who have lost themselves to the bloodlust. D-ranks are not crazy, but they are seen as the most susceptile to becoming so due to the weak blood in their veins (the higher level the vampire who turns them, the higher rank the turned has a chance of being). 
> 
> This system is from an anime, but I'm not sure which one. 
> 
> Hunters go from Grades 1-5, which basically is the equivalent of kage, jonin, special jonin, chunin and genin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> P.S. Sorry it took me so long to get this out. Never again will I state a specific deadline unless I'm sure I will make it. "Some editing" somehow turned into several rewrites.

Iruka tightened the straps on his boots and looked over his shoulder to see Mitarashi Anko, Hunter of the Third grade, was ready to go. She had her enormous halberd thrown over one shoulder and Iruka wondered how a woman as small as her ever managed to swing it, much less exterminate vampires with it. Then, she probably swung it with her guts as much as power, thought Iruka dryly.  
  
"No need to look so anxious, Umino. I'm sure there will be enough bloodsuckers for the both of us," Anko said, grinning sharply.  
  
Yes, because that was what Iruka always worried about.  
  
"I just hope this turns out alright," Iruka said, turning to look at his blade. The short-sword was a loyal companion of his and something Iruka had been given by the Head years ago. "I don't like the idea of hunting so late in the day. Did they say why we couldn't just wait until tomorrow?"  
  
The sun was setting. In just an hour it would be dark enough for vampires to start coming out of their hiding places. At that point the fight would no longer be confined in a set area and if things went wrong, Iruka and Anko would have nowhere to run.  
  
"Because it wouldn't be any fun." Iruka furrowed his brows, glowering Anko's way. Nut-head, she was. Anko shrugged. "Probably concerned about the negative press this will gain."  
  
Iruka supposed so. A student being attacked at school, even after hours, was understandably upsetting news. No matter that they'd broken into the storage room and had not supposed to be anywhere near the area at the time. One known victim. A boy, fifteen years old. Dragged in by the neck, unable to break loose despite struggling.  
  
Iruka sighed. "Lets just get going." He had a bad feeling about this.

 

\--- <3 ---

 

Iruka raced down a hallway, feeling the pressure of eyes raking down his spine in the dark. Iruka let out a low curse, turning just in time to see a crouching creature land on the floor before him. The vampire stared up at him in hunger, spine was twisted at an odd angle from where Iruka had thrown it down a set of stairs earlier.  
  
"Easy there," Iruka said, lifting his short-sword. It was the only weapon he had on him, his trench coat having been ripped to shreds earlier. Even his shirt was mostly in tatters. Iruka used his other hand to tug at the hem of it, self-consciously attempting to pull the remains of the shirt over the wound on his back, but it was a futile effort. There was no hiding the smell of blood on him.  
  
With his luck, Iruka would be luring all vampires on this side of Konoha to him.  
  
Iruka took a step back and the vampire matched him, crawling on all fours. The crazed look on the vampire's face never wavered, making Iruka wonder how it and its two companions had managed to shut down the electricity. E-levels rarely, if ever, returned to consciousness from the throes of their blood lust, yet these had obviously managed. Or maybe they'd regressed very recently.  
  
Iruka recounted the blueprint of the building in his mind. He was on the third floor, Anko probably still on the first. Had she managed to take out the two females? Iruka could only hope.  
  
The vampire purred lowly, letting its lips part in a feral smile. Iruka counted the seconds before it lunged, only for the vampire to still in its tracks, sitting back on its haunches just in front of a window. The moon gave the vampire's skin a ghostly glow, highlighting each node of its unnaturally curved spine as it turned its head, position alert. It was listening, Iruka realized. For what?  
  
A low, deep growling noise filled the darkness and Iruka felt as if he'd been doused with cold water. The look on the E-level's face was similarly shocked, its eyes comically wide.  
  
Shit. The worst had happened, Iruka's scent had managed to lure another of the beasts. That or it was one of the females Anko was after, but he doubted it. Iruka turned his head, dreading what he might see, when a shock of white hair entered the periphery of his vision. Iruka snapped.

"I told you to wait at home!"  
  
Kakashi, eye a sober, bloody red, stepped out of the shadows. "You were late. I got bored." His gaze was accusing, almost petulant. Iruka gaped.

"I left the chains off at as a sign of _trust._ Way to ruin that."

"Sorry," Kakashi said, entirely unrepentant. Iruka wanted to strangle him. "You're bleeding." Iruka did not immediately realize Kakashi was speaking to him, though it made sense. Though Iruka's familiar did not act as openly ravenous as the E-level did, Iruka did not for one moment think Kakashi was unaffected by the scent of blood in the air.

"I... I know." Iruka fiddled with the hem of his shirt. He felt self-conscious, sensing the intensity of Kakashi's gaze on his skin.  "Anyway, I need to take care of this guy. He's been attacking youth in this school."

"How terrible," Kakashi drawled, deadpan.

"You can't kill teenagers just because you think they're annoying!" Iruka snapped. Realizing what he'd said, how loudly he'd said it, Iruka flushed, quickly changing the subject and lifting his sword, training it on the E-level. "If you're not going to help, at least stand back." It had sunk on its fours, shifting restlessly, weighing its options. No doubt it was weighing itself up against Kakashi, wondering if it would be strong enough to take him down. Iruka's bet was that it would fight. E-levels often did, regardless of their chances of survival.

"You're in no shape to take care of anyone but yourself." 

Iruka's brow twitched. Kakashi was probably right, but most fights were not conducted in ideal circumstances. "I can't just leave it be. Step aside, I'll—" In that moment, the E-level lunged. It took Iruka off guard and he flinched, realizing a moment later it wasn't coming his way. _It was running away,_ he realized, and then his view of Kakashi blurred.

Iruka was glad it happened away from the windows where he would have been able to see every twitch of muscle and the looks of desperation on the E-level's face as Kakashi caught it by the throat. The E-level thrashed in the grip, crying out its fear, a sound loud and terrible, sticking a blade in Iruka's always too compassionate heart. Kakashi's fingers must have been squeezing harder as time went by for suddenly there was a snap and the E-level went slack .Iruka watched, eyes wide, as it turned to ashes, piling at Kakashi's feet. Iruka held his breath, unable to believe his eyes.

Kakashi stood deadly still, staring at the pile of ashes like a god looking down on the world. Nothing about his expression spoke of distress or regret. He was completely expressionless, aloof. Iruka was a bit creeped out by it, but then Kakashi looked up, the unnatural stillness seeping away. "Good?" Kakashi asked, cocking his head.

"Y-Yeah," Iruka said.

 

 --- <3 ---

 

Anko raised her halberd in response to seeing Iruka and Kakashi in the hallway. She hesitated, unable to read the situation. Iruka could see the conflict in her eyes.  
  
"He's with me," Iruka said.  
  
"Really," she said, deadpan.  
  
"Ah..." Iruka scratched his nose sheepishly. "He's my familiar. He's here because..." Iruka glanced over his shoulder, wondering how he might state it without completely embarrassing himself.

"As his familiar, it is my duty to be there when my master needs me," Kakashi said, face completely straight. Iruka stared at him in disbelief. _Liar,_ he thought silently.  
  
"Oh ho," said Anko, lowering her weapon. "I like this one. Make sure you give him to me if you ever tire of him, okay Iruka?"

 

THANK YOU FOR READING

 


End file.
